Make 2015 Count for Your Small Business

Make 2015 Count for Your Small Business

Can you believe the end of 2014 is here?!

Many people treat the dawning of a new year as an opportunity to reflect on the previous year, identify goals for the months ahead, and create action steps they can use to make things happen.

With that in mind, here’s 5 ways to make 2015 a year that counts for your small business…

1. Review your end-of-year monthly and quarterly performance.

How did performance compare to where you were when you started the year? Were you able to increase your business’ bottom line as 2014 came to a close? Do you have a larger social media following or more leads on your email list?

If you aren’t ending the year where you wanted to be, see if you can identify one to three actions, derived directly from your performance numbers, that you can put into practice to make sure you see growth in 2015.

Example: If your website lost sessions and unique visitors as you moved from August to December, and you know it’s because a certain referrer wasn’t performing well, your action step could be to improve referral performance or even invest that time in an alternate referrer.

2. Identify weak areas.

Even if 2014 was a booming year for your small business, there are always areas that can be improved. Use a critical - but not harsh! - eye to look at all aspects of your business. There might be something that can be better optimized.

Example: Is it easy for you to drive traffic to your website but difficult for you to convert those visitors into leads? Take some time in 2015 to assess your landing pages and optimize.

3. Assess your 2014 goals and create new ones for 2015.

In addition to looking at whether you accomplished your goals, assess the quality of your 2014 goal-making. Were your goals realistic for your business, or did you set standards that were too high? This is especially important if your performance numbers fell short.

When making goals for 2015, ensure that they’re realistic, based off of what you accomplished in 2014, and easily measurable.

Example: If you added 20 new leads (30% growth) to your email list in 2014, meeting your goal, shoot for adding a similar percentage to your list in 2015.

4. Make a resolution for personal development.

While you can begin a new productivity habit or attend a relevant conference any time throughout the year, committing to a resolution during the beginning of the year can help you start fresh just as your business does.

Whether it’s reading three relevant articles a week, learning how to use PhotoShop, or investing in a new degree, make 2015 the year you go above and beyond for yourself. Your business will thank you later!

5. Create a physical action plan and place it somewhere you can see it.

Placing your action plan somewhere in your environment makes it easier for you to be reminded of the intentions and goals you have for the new year. It can be a new desktop wallpaper for your laptop, a print-out on your fridge, or even a post-it note stuck to your desk.

It doesn’t have to be something that’s too drawn-out. Write your goals at the top and any action steps or reminders at the bottom. Remember to adjust it if your goals or steps change throughout the year, too!

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We’d love to hear about your plans and goals for 2015. Let us know what you think by leaving a comment! And have a wonderful start to your new year!

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Marketing Strategist

I love helping small businesses with their digital marketing and business strategy. I'm a young man with a passion in entrepreneurship and international experience in business development, marketing, sales, and web/graphic design.

About Us

Bloominari is a San Diego based, full-service digital marketing and creative design agency dedicated to providing small businesses with solutions to increase their customer base and grow their brands and companies online.

Our team has the creative ideas, the ambitious drive and the know-how that only comes with more than a decade of experience.